Joseph Roty Charmes-Chambertin Grand Cru Tres Vieilles Vignes 2007

94 WAWine Advocate, David Schildknecht, 29-06-2010

The 2007 Charmes-Chambertin Tres Vieilles Vignes is in a class by itself for the Roty collection of this vintage, or indeed of the combined 2007 and 2008 collections. Liqueur-like rich black raspberry, cassis, and dark cherry are backed by marrowy meat stock and laced with black tea, licorice, cocoa powder, and tamarind. This positively sticks to the gums in a sumptuous yet buoyant and downright refreshing finish. Given its present generosity at nearly one year of bottle age, I expect this to put on a great show continuously over the next 12-15 years. Philippe Roty insists that because of his rigorous canopy-management and green harvesting, plus a further late summer crop-drop, rot was not the problem for him in 2008 (or for that matter in 2007). But ripeness, he readily acknowledged, was. “In 2008, we simply lacked 8 or 10 days of sunshine,” he concludes, admitting that he harvested his lesser terroirs first (beginning September 23) and his grand crus last. “Which would you want to make sure ripens, Bourgogne or Charmes Chambertin?” he asked with a rhetorical laugh. This reversal of normal procedure – when taken together with the cautious extraction Roty felt committed to buy unripe pips – resulted in a 2008 collection that is mildly disappointing in its lowest echelons and among village Gevreys, though the Marsannays continued to offer considerable interest for their modest prices, whereas they were decidedly weaker partners in 2007. (Since the 2008 hail in Marsannay hit largely in the Chenove direction, it had little effect on Roty’s locations.) Tasting at the press and halting pressing as soon as bitterness or under-ripeness were detected was, says Roty, another critical factor in rendering satisfying 2008s. Malos – other than two stubborn whites on which Roty simply gave up! – finished here on a normal schedule at the end of their first winter, and thus in no way compromised his plan to as usual bottle the wines in April. I tasted in late February a pre-assemblage set aside for me two weeks in advance of my visit because in the meantime all of the lots had been sulfured in barrel.

Drink 2010 to 2025

93 VMVinous, Stephen Tanzer, 01-03-2010

Medium-deep red. Black raspberry, licorice and a wild meaty nuance on the nose. Intensely flavored, young and concentrated; like a liqueur of black cherry and black raspberry fruit, but lifted by violet and spice notes. Very dense, chewy and ripe wine with a long, sweet, generous, extract-rich finish. Deceptively tastable for a young Charmes from Roty, but it's hard to believe that this wine won't shut down in bottle at some point.